Aug 12, 2010

Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach is not going to be discharged quietly. The Air Force pilot, who has earned nine Air Medals, has been sitting at a desk for two years, waiting for the investigative results of a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” discharge proceeding. The Air Force Personnel Board has sent a recommendation concerning the lieutenant colonel to Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley. “Our nation is on the verge of firing a highly decorated combat aviator, an American hero. The Air Force Secretary can do the right thing and retain Lt. Col. Fehrenbach under the Pentagon’s own recently revised regulations on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said in a statement. “If Secretary Donley does not step in, this nation will lose a service member worth $25 million in training whose skill sets are desperately needed today.”

Fehrenbach, who has served for 19 years, is 14 months away from 20 year retirement. He, his lawyers, and SLDN filed a temporary restraining order in in the United States District Court for the District of Idaho. The plaintiffs argue the government cannot prove the air man’s continued duty hinders “morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion.” HERE

James Withers, contributing editor, 365Gay Blog

BREAKING UPDATE:

U.S. Dept. of Justice, U.S. Air Force Reach Federal Court Agreement with Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and Morrison & Foerster LLP, representing their client, Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, reached an agreement today with the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Air Force, on the pending request for a temporary restraining order. The agreement prevents the Air Force from discharging Lt. Col. Fehrenbach under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), the discriminatory law barring gay and lesbian service members from serving openly and honestly, until the Court can schedule a hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction. Attorneys for Lt. Col. Fehrenbach filed a motion in U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho last Wednesday seeking a court order preventing the Air Force from discharging Lt. Col. Fehrenbach, arguing that the government cannot establish that his continued service on active duty hinders “morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion.”

Statement by Morrison & Foerster’s M. Andrew Woodmansee:

"This is exactly what we asked the Court to do in our motion on Wednesday, and we are pleased that the Air Force has agreed to preserve the status quo until we can have a full hearing. Of course, we continue to hope that the Air Force will do the right thing and let this war hero continue to serve this country."

“The agreement recognizes the immediate harm to Lt. Col. Fehrenbach and insures that he will eventually get to make his case at a full blown hearing without losing his job. This agreement is a victory for Lt. Col. Fehrenbach and our nation. The Air Force can still do the right thing and retain Lt. Col. Fehrenbach under the Pentagon’s own revised regulations on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ The Senate needs to act next month to get rid of this antiquated law that dishonors some of our finest and most talented service members.” HERE

To read the agreement as filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho visit: HERE

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REAL HERO/REAL LIFE: Bishop John Shelby Spong

“I was simply interpreting a rising consciousness,” he said. “Whether it was race or women or homosexual people, the issue was always the same: fighting against anything that dehumanizes a child of God on the basis of an external characteristic.” Bishop John Shelby Spong (click on his photo)

¨Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?¨ Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu